Blast at steel plant kills two, injures others

BURNS HARBOR, Ind. (AP) -- A furnace exploded while being demolished at a steel plant Friday, killing two workers and seriously injuring at least two others.

Bethlehem Steel Corp. said a company employee and a contract employee were killed in the incident.

Five people with injuries were taken to Porter Memorial Hospital, hospital spokesman Andrew Synder said.

The company declined to release further details of what may have caused the fire, which broke out at 1:50 p.m. EST at the 1,700-acre site on Lake Michigan.

Early reports of an explosion in a furnace area that was being demolished could not be confirmed by Porter County sheriff's spokesman Tim Emmons. Emmons said authorities are investigating the deaths, but Bethlehem Steel's own f ire department fought the fire.